The Sobbing Stone

Try this... Watch the movie in its entirety. Every time one of the "scientists" speaks, respond with phrases like "What?!" or "Huh?!" or "What you just said was nonsense." It will mesh perfectly with the dialogue. That pretty much sums up the quality of the writing on display here.

The Christian movie tropes in The Sobbing Stone are more or less par for the course in this cinematic genre: scientists who know nothing of the scientific method; atheists who don't really disbelieve but are only angry at God because of something that happened to them as children; music with zero subtlety; location scouting with dubious results (does the slope of Golgotha really have lush trees and mown grass?); and so on. Sample words put in the mouth of atheists: "Science has proven that no god exists." (Wrong: atheists maintain that there is no reliable evidence, not that there is proof.) Sample words put in mouth of scientists: "There's no explanation for it; not even a theory." (In science a theory IS an explanation, one with firm evidentiary support). Sample scientific method: When a group of psychic researchers (I'm not sure the writer realized that is what you would label the Ghostbusters) are given the task for figuring out why the title stone is making noises, their first decision is "the professor says the sounds come randomly, so no sense recording times when sounds are observed." Right: deliberately avoid gathering data. Sample line: "Have you ever murdered someone?" Only in a Christian movie would the hearer of that line do anything but back away slowly, then turn and bolt.

The story, though conceptually a little clever, is particularly unsavory. It drives home the thesis that human beings are worthless, and that nobody, however well intentioned they may be, would have supported the saviour in his time of trial.

As a movie, it fails most fundamentally because its mystery's solution is detectable within minutes of the film's opening. Much of the acting is silly at best when it is not just embarrassing. The music seems to have been composed in whole notes entirely on the bottom octave of a synthesizer. The characters are utterly unlikeable (which I supposed matches the basic premise). And the camera work is just plain ugly to behold. There were numerous laugh-out-loud moments (like when one researcher speculates from the sounds of echoes around footsteps that it must have happened at night??) but most of the film is painful to watch due to its gross misrepresentation of, well, the quality of humanity. Not recommended to those who would watch it ironically; it will probably be eaten up by its target audience, if their cinematic expectations take an extreme backseat to their theological views.

I am very pleased I went Gardels had great food and The Sobbing Stone was very good once you start watching it you can't stop ...I enjoyed the low budget film exp ...and even forgot that it was a small film budget I had heard the film was cast 3 times in the audience during filming , I could tell there was some kind of strange editing but all in all very entertaining I liked the Character Michael and The Prof I am sure this film has a place. I hope everyone can get a chance to watch it or pick it up somewhere I know I sat with 200 people that night it showed in Baltimore MD and the crowd seemed to be glued to every word although I am not much on that type of film I enjoyed it Great Job RC Features and all the local actors in that area

Tull

This film is amazingly incompetent at being a film. It feels like someone confused an internet argument between an atheist and a Christian for a film script, then filled in the gaps with stock sound effects. For a film that seems to be intended to defend Christianity against criticisms, it does nothing but attempt to pander to existing Christians, while accidentally raising some interesting points against Christianity, or at least certain particularly vocal Christians.

The film barely has a plot at all. There is no real character development, nothing really happens. In a way it's a genius piece of art, because it gets people to sit down to watch other people sit down and listen to a rock. The basic premise of a stone producing sounds could have made an interesting film, but instead it becomes a subplot to the main focus of this film: an atheist spontaneously abusing a Christian for being a Christian. Even then, the stone plot ends with a nonsensical non-twist, in which the historical inaccuracies are more entertaining than the actual plot. There's one other subplot about the professor's family, but that somehow makes just as little sense.

All in all, a terrible film. Still, it's so bad you can actually laugh at it, rather than being completely dull or just offensive, like an Adam Sandler film. Watch it, IF YOU CAN!

As an enthusiast of independent films, I applaud the Sobbing Stone for it's originality and spirit. After viewing this work it was encouraging to know there are filmmakers out there willing to risk public scrutiny and undue criticism for their endeavors in spiritual matters. Although the film was a bit slow in the beginning the pace seemed to pick up soon after and, when the story did begin to unfold, we were treated to some fine performances and storytelling. I will encourage others to view the Sobbing Stone if anything for it's unabashed commitment and willingness to be an original work with fine storytelling. I'm sure the director has a place in the entertainment industry. There is a great void in Hollywood for this kind of material and it seems there are productions stepping up to the plate.